Welcome to the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Geography course. This is a university level course which aims to develop students' understanding and thinking about the world we live in. We will study natural and human factors that have shaped the world physically and sociologically and examine why the world is the way it is today and what we can expect in the future. We will focus on the relationship between the planet and the humans that inhabit it. Ultimately, the IB DP Geography course aims to give students the skills to analyze and evaluate the world and our place in it and the creative foresight to make the planet we call home, a better place.
world hands.jpg
The wikipage is sill under construction and will be added onto throughout the year. The first and most important thing you can do is go over the IB DP Geography Guide. Pay special attention to the Assessment part of the guide. The file can be downloaded here:
*This is a page that a colleague of mine at JIS (Jakarta Intercultural School- one of the best schools in Asia) has set up for his class. We will use it for resources for our class. Please refer to this link as much as possible to get resources to use when researching different topics.*
Explain population trends, including birth rates, fertility rates, mortality rates and life expectancy
Analyze population pyramids and the impacts of youthful and ageing populations
Evaluate pro-natalist and anti-natalist policies
Discuss the causes and effects of forced and voluntary migration
Examine Gender inequalities in culture, education, employment and life expectancy
Homework for September 3-6:
Read Unit 1. After you read the unit, write a case study on one type of "population in transition." Your case study should look like the example below (follow the same format that you see below):
Example Case Study
Title: Rural to Urban migration. (see also the diagram of rural to urban migration). Source: Rural areas and small town's among Calcutta. Destination: Calcutta's Bustees (Shanty Towns). Reasons:
Large population growth in rural areas puts more pressure on the environment.
Wages in Calcutta are approximately six times that of rural areas.
Sub-division of land passed on makes a subsistence life more difficult and reduces the assets against which a rural inhabitant could get a loan.
Increased mechanisation of agriculture to feed growing population means greater rural unemployment.
A large number of migrants are a consequence of natural disasters such as those faced annually in the Monsoon season. Many cross from nearby Bangladesh.
Indian cities receive approximately six times the investment of their rural counterparts.
Better medical and health care. Infant mortality is lower in Indian cities than rural areas.
India
Consequences for area they arrive in: These are massive and one of the biggest problems facing the entire developing world. In Calcutta they include:
A chance to escape the rigid caste system that is still very strong in rural areas.
Higher rates of infant mortality than towns.
Half a million people sleeping on the streets.
Increased air pollution as the pressures of population create a need for more industry. In addition, people use wood and charcoal for cooking.
The old water system cannot cope. Leaking pipes allow contamination to enter the water supply. In Monsoon season, this is particularly bad as sewage infects the water.
Increased traffic causes greater air pollution problems. As many as 60% of the population suffer from breathing problems.
Bustees have to occupy the least desirable land. This is often prone to flooding particularly during monsoon season but also is likely to be located near industry increasing problems with air pollution but also experiencing toxic chemical discharge.
Alternatively the developments could be on steep slopes increasing the chances of landslides.
Consequences for area they leave:
If the migrant finds work in the city then it is likely that the village he left will benefit from money sent home. This is what every migrant dreams of but the situation in reality is usually very different.
As the pressures of urbanisation increase so government expenditure on urban areas must increase this leaves the rural areas facing an ever more difficult situation. Lack of investment on health and welfare will have obvious effects for those left behind.
It is the young motivated male that is most likely to leave. This has implications for those left behind. There will be a predominantly elderly population that will find it ever more difficult to support themselves.
Whilst migration may ease some of the population pressures the high birth rates in rural areas means the situation is deteriorating. This means a constant loss through migration with the break up of families.
Consequences for the migrant:
Forced to live in squalid conditions in the bustees.
Often the only work available would be in the informal sector. Jobs here can include rummaging amongst rubbish tips to find materials that can be sold for re-cycling.
Often feel forced to stay in the cities not wanting to face the failure of going home.
Consequences
END OF CASE STUDY (End of homework assignment for (September 3-6)
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Case Study Presentations, Monday-Tuesday, September 14th-15th
Using the information collected in the last assignment, create a presentation to teach the other students in your class about your case study. You may use Powerpoint or Keynote as long as you have made sure your presentation can run on a Windows 7 Platform or you have an adapter to hook up your Mac to the school projector.
(example of a graph that would be used)
Details for your Presentation:
Your presentation to the class should be between 6-8 minutes. We talked about 8-10 minutes in class but at this point of the year that seems like too much. In your presentation you should include the following:
All of the information that was relevant in your case study
Quotes and excerpts from relevant experts in the field
Diagrams
Graphs
Maps
Pictures
Video- video must must support your case study and be relevant to the issue and not just about the country you are studyingt (any clip of video should not be longer than 30 seconds and you should not have the total amount of video make up more than 90 seconds of your presentation).
Any other supporting material that you think will help your fellow students understand your case study better.
You will be scored on three major areas: 1. The amount of supporting material you used to teach your case study. How many outside resources did you use (minimum 3 and yes maps and diagrams count as resources)? As well as the validity of the resources. 2. The depth of investigation (how much did you actually study and find out about your case study). 3. And, last of all, your presentation skills (were you clear in how your presented the information to the class).
Remember, you are not only helping other classmates learning, but by teaching the material yourself, you are becoming a master of the area that you studied and the skills you develop as you master your case study will transfer to other similar tasks in geography and subsequent exams.
Also, and this is very important... TRY NOT TO MAKE IT BORING!
RUBRIC: The areas you will be graded on are in the rubric below.
Quotes and excerpts from relevant experts in the field
Push and Pull factors
Consequences for the area they left/arrive
Depth of Research
Graphs/ Diagrams
Maps/Video/Pictures
Total
Pro-Natalist and Anti-Natalist policies
Why do some countries have to implement pro-natalist and anti-natalist policies?
Discussion Questions:
Do you think a government has a right to tell someone how many children they can have?
or... Do you think, with so many people on the planet, that people have the right to have as many children as they want?
Is it unfair for people who do not want children to have to take on the burden of other people having children?
What is more important... one person's right to have a child or one person's right to live in a world with less people?
Solutions: What are some of the ways countries can implement pro-natalist policies and anti-natalist policies?
Quiz Yourself: Can you list some countries that have falling populations? What about some countries that have fast growing populations?
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Vocabulary Check (Make sure you know what these acronyms mean)
Gender, Fertility, Employment, and Migration (A focus on women)
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*This is a page that a colleague of mine at JIS (Jakarta Intercultural School- one of the best schools in Asia) has set up for his class. We will use it for resources for our class. Please refer to this link as much as possible to get resources to use when researching different topics.*
IB DP Geography Introduction
Welcome to the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Geography course. This is a university level course which aims to develop students' understanding and thinking about the world we live in. We will study natural and human factors that have shaped the world physically and sociologically and examine why the world is the way it is today and what we can expect in the future. We will focus on the relationship between the planet and the humans that inhabit it. Ultimately, the IB DP Geography course aims to give students the skills to analyze and evaluate the world and our place in it and the creative foresight to make the planet we call home, a better place.The wikipage is sill under construction and will be added onto throughout the year. The first and most important thing you can do is go over the IB DP Geography Guide. Pay special attention to the Assessment part of the guide. The file can be downloaded here:
*This is a page that a colleague of mine at JIS (Jakarta Intercultural School- one of the best schools in Asia) has set up for his class. We will use it for resources for our class. Please refer to this link as much as possible to get resources to use when researching different topics.*
http://www.scoop.it/t/ib-geography-jis/?tag=SP1This site is from a teacher in the UK. There are a lot of resources on here. If you need anything related to geography, check here first.
http://greenfieldgeography.wikispaces.com/Reducing+disparitiesUnit 1 Populations in Transition
(5 weeks)
At the end of this unit you should be able to:
Homework for September 3-6:
Read Unit 1. After you read the unit, write a case study on one type of "population in transition." Your case study should look like the example below (follow the same format that you see below):Example Case Study
Title: Rural to Urban migration. (see also the diagram of rural to urban migration).
Source: Rural areas and small town's among Calcutta.
Destination: Calcutta's Bustees (Shanty Towns).
Reasons:
Consequences for area they arrive in:
These are massive and one of the biggest problems facing the entire developing world. In Calcutta they include:
- A chance to escape the rigid caste system that is still very strong in rural areas.
- Higher rates of infant mortality than towns.
- Half a million people sleeping on the streets.
- Increased air pollution as the pressures of population create a need for more industry. In addition, people use wood and charcoal for cooking.
- The old water system cannot cope. Leaking pipes allow contamination to enter the water supply. In Monsoon season, this is particularly bad as sewage infects the water.
- Increased traffic causes greater air pollution problems. As many as 60% of the population suffer from breathing problems.
- Bustees have to occupy the least desirable land. This is often prone to flooding particularly during monsoon season but also is likely to be located near industry increasing problems with air pollution but also experiencing toxic chemical discharge.
- Alternatively the developments could be on steep slopes increasing the chances of landslides.
Consequences for area they leave:- If the migrant finds work in the city then it is likely that the village he left will benefit from money sent home. This is what every migrant dreams of but the situation in reality is usually very different.
- As the pressures of urbanisation increase so government expenditure on urban areas must increase this leaves the rural areas facing an ever more difficult situation. Lack of investment on health and welfare will have obvious effects for those left behind.
- It is the young motivated male that is most likely to leave. This has implications for those left behind. There will be a predominantly elderly population that will find it ever more difficult to support themselves.
- Whilst migration may ease some of the population pressures the high birth rates in rural areas means the situation is deteriorating. This means a constant loss through migration with the break up of families.
Consequences for the migrant:END OF CASE STUDY (End of homework assignment for (September 3-6)
-------------------------------
Case Study Presentations, Monday-Tuesday, September 14th-15th
Using the information collected in the last assignment, create a presentation to teach the other students in your class about your case study. You may use Powerpoint or Keynote as long as you have made sure your presentation can run on a Windows 7 Platform or you have an adapter to hook up your Mac to the school projector.(example of a graph that would be used)
Details for your Presentation:
Your presentation to the class should be between 6-8 minutes. We talked about 8-10 minutes in class but at this point of the year that seems like too much. In your presentation you should include the following:You will be scored on three major areas: 1. The amount of supporting material you used to teach your case study. How many outside resources did you use (minimum 3 and yes maps and diagrams count as resources)? As well as the validity of the resources.
2. The depth of investigation (how much did you actually study and find out about your case study).
3. And, last of all, your presentation skills (were you clear in how your presented the information to the class).
Remember, you are not only helping other classmates learning, but by teaching the material yourself, you are becoming a master of the area that you studied and the skills you develop as you master your case study will transfer to other similar tasks in geography and subsequent exams.
Also, and this is very important... TRY NOT TO MAKE IT BORING!
RUBRIC: The areas you will be graded on are in the rubric below.
Quotes and excerpts from relevant experts in the field
Push and Pull factors
Consequences for the area they left/arrive
Depth of Research
Graphs/ Diagrams
Maps/Video/Pictures
Total
Pro-Natalist and Anti-Natalist policies
Why do some countries have to implement pro-natalist and anti-natalist policies?Discussion Questions:
Do you think a government has a right to tell someone how many children they can have?or... Do you think, with so many people on the planet, that people have the right to have as many children as they want?
Is it unfair for people who do not want children to have to take on the burden of other people having children?
What is more important... one person's right to have a child or one person's right to live in a world with less people?
Solutions: What are some of the ways countries can implement pro-natalist policies and anti-natalist policies?
Quiz Yourself: Can you list some countries that have falling populations? What about some countries that have fast growing populations?
-----
Vocabulary Check (Make sure you know what these acronyms mean)
Annual growth rateCrude birth rate (CBR)
General fertility rate (GFR)
Age-specific birth rate (ASBR)
Standardized birth rate (SBR)
Total fertility rate (TFR)
Older dependency ration (ODR)
Migration
You should know:
How is migration different in poor countries than rich countries?
Refugees
Terms to know:Refugee
Asylum seeker
Illegal immigrant
Economic migrant
Internally displaced persons (IDPs)
Gender, Fertility, Employment, and Migration (A focus on women)
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*This is a page that a colleague of mine at JIS (Jakarta Intercultural School- one of the best schools in Asia) has set up for his class. We will use it for resources for our class. Please refer to this link as much as possible to get resources to use when researching different topics.*
http://www.scoop.it/t/ib-geography-jis/?tag=SP1IB Examiner Notes on Final Exam are here: